ByCompiled from wire service reports by Robert Kilborn, Steven Savides, and Kristen Broman-WorthingtonAugust 4, 2003

There are those who believe strongly in certain causes, and then there's a "youth educator" in Norfolk, Va., for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. We speak of the former Karin Robertson. Former? Yes, and not because she has married and taken her husband's name. If you want to contact her, she's now GoVeg.com. The change is legal and, in fact, is the same as the website of her employer. She made the switch to stimulate discussion about vegetarianism. But she admits others usually react by saying: "You've got to be joking." Take, for example, Kara Flynn, spokeswoman of the National Pork Producers Council. "It sounds," Flynn said, "like she needs to get a life."

Hey, I've got money to burn

Chan Pak-yu becomes fired up sometimes, too. So much so, that the Hong Kong resident last month decided he just had to register his disgust at the interest rates offered by banks there, which have sunk to near zero. So he withdrew all but a few cents of his savings, which had earned less than $2.25 in six months, and set it ablaze. Before police could stop him, $2,800 had gone up in smoke.

Vehicles that, um, drive the curiosity of consumers most

Perhaps because of lingering concern about the safety of flying, Americans are taking more trips by road than ever this summer. An estimated 32.6 million people traveled by car during the Independence Day weekend, according to the American Automobile Association. And the website NADAguides.com, which provides vehicle appraisals, says it's experiencing record traffic. The online site conducted a joint study with automotive background-check provider Carfax into which models are drawing the most research requests from consumers. The findings, in various categories: